Social media is just designed to release dopamine, not for connecting people
Guest: Santiago Cabanas Oyarzun, the founder of Loop Media, a company providing unfiltered news for youth, based out of Spain.
Frank Albert Coates
Do you want to start off briefly explaining more in detail what your company does and the stage that you're in right now?
Santiago Cabanas Oyarzun
We first launched a platform that wanted to break filter bubbles and language barriers. But, we saw that it didn't really give such an immediate value. It wasn't such an immediate pain. And so we had to go back to the drawing board and go talk to users. So, what we do right now is like Medium for youth that's interested in current events. Medium is a big platform where you can publish articles. And what it does is that it gives you all the tools to create and publish online, you don't need to create your own blog, worry about tech costs, or learning about tech design or SEO marketing. And we saw that in Spain this affected the youth - the youth that is interested in society, politics economy, that is studying journalism, communications, international relations, because big editorials won't publish them yet. So they need to create their own WordPress, or Wix, for example. But, they don't really want to waste time or money with different tech design or marketing. And so we just give them the tools to publish. And at the same time, it aggregates everyone in one same platform, creating visibility and engagement. That's where we're at right now, launching the second version. So, I would definitely say at a seed phase.
Frank Albert Coates
And if you look at the education and edtech aspects of it, how would you place yourself in that ecosystem?
Santiago Cabanas Oyarzun
We didn't really start into edtech at the beginning. What really motivated us was that there really wasn't a platform designed for connecting. Social media isn't really designed for connecting people, it is just a timeline based on your likes, follows and interests. And it's just engineered to give you more and more dopamine. And so you keep scrolling. So me, for example, I'm Spanish and my timeline is just filled with the Spanish brands, institutions, personalities, the content that the algorithm assumes that I like. Same thing happens to someone from Nigeria, or Indonesia, or Colombia, and there really isn't a connection. That was what really motivated us in wanting to change that. And then we saw that when we launched the first version, and we had the first 100 users, you're not breaking a filter bubble with 100 users. And it's not that great to have a platform with a few users. And so we had to go back to the drawing board, because we had really just started building without validating. We skipped the first step, the most important one, which is talking to users and potential users to find the pattern in their pain - is it really a very, very deep pain? Are you a painkiller? Or are you a vitamin?
We skipped the first step, the most important one, which is talking to users and potential users to find the pattern in their pain - is it really a very, very deep pain? Are you a painkiller? Or are you a vitamin?
And so we saw that with the youth that are studying international relations, communications, journalism, or that want to study that, they want to build up that little CV of articles that they know how to write. And there are platforms for them. But, there's not really a platform for that specific community, for the youth that is interested in international relations. They're using Instagram right now. They're not really using LinkedIn to publish articles. Because a lot of them don't have LinkedIn yet, or they they're a bit iffy about it because LinkedIn is your actual person, your actual brand, and they kind of want to test it out, test the waters and especially tap in with like minded people. So we just started building the platform again and this time it was just with the help of all these users sending them screenshots. How would you like the editor to be? Do you want to be anonymous? Do you want it to be your actual person? And then that's where we started to get into more of the edtech space, because we talked to schools as well, to promote the product, we talked to universities. It is a bit of an education tool, as well. But it definitely pivoted into that space.
Frank Albert Coates
So, you had a bit of a pivot and user understanding to move in the right direction. If you look back and think about the specific moment when you decided that now was the time to start up Loopmedia, what was the key trigger?
Santiago Cabanas Oyarzun
Well, the first was really the spark when I finished my university. I studied business and international relations, I don't have a tech background, that's Manohlo, and he definitely deserves all the credit - he built everything, along with Ira as well. I studied Business and International Relations, and I did my final thesis on platform capitalism. And that's where I started really getting into different platforms, the business models behind them and how they work. And the negative side effects of the filter bubbles of today, the so called echo chambers, used to win the elections in the US, they would call the Republican feed, or the red feed, or the blue feed with Brexit, there's the pro Brexit and against Brexit, but these people aren't really interacting with each other. And that is all surprising. It's just getting to more extremism and not really connecting the world. And we think that basically, as a human race, that sounds a bit cliché and idealistic, but as a human race, we progress, we move forward by sharing different cultures by sharing different perspectives, not by just regurgitating the same content. Especially when it has to do with society, with news, with politics, with the economy, with technology. Maybe you're scrolling through Instagram, and you like burgers, it's okay that it just keeps giving you burgers and barbecue content. And you don't want to see vegan content. But, when it comes to politics, it's a bit different. We think.
Maybe you're scrolling through Instagram, and you like burgers, it's okay that it just keeps giving you burgers and barbecue content. And you don't want to see vegan content. But, when it comes to politics, it's a bit different. We think.
Frank Albert Coates
And when you look back, since the founding of the company, what's been the biggest challenge that you had to address and how did you solve it? And I think you've touched upon some of them now, but perhaps there's one that really sticks out that you want to share?
Santiago Cabanas Oyarzun
People - just getting the team that works and a team that can execute. I think that's also what investors are looking for. Right? And it didn't work out in the first try. And I think that's definitely the most complicated part. Because for eg tech in the end you have someone that can build it, it can be built, there's open source things now, there's no code tools, marketing, there's a bunch of stuff with social media you can do for free. You can contact influencers, you can do some content marketing, so you can build something and get some traction out of it. But, you need the right people to do that. And so motivating them and convincing them to jump on board that's the biggest challenge but, the most important one because you need to do it with the right people.
Frank Albert Coates
You said you needed to motivate them to have them jump on board. So what more did you do? What advice can you share with other founders and co-founders who are looking to build their team?
Santiago Cabanas Oyarzun
Manolo, for example, we've known each other since we were 14. One of my best friends is one of his best friends. So knowing each other since we were 14, and then reconnecting at around 23, to do this helped a lot because he wasn't a stranger. And definitely, the big idea is what motivates them - not building a blog aggregator, but taking on the social media industry and the media industry.
And definitely, the big idea is what motivates them - not building a blog aggregator, but taking on the social media industry and the media industry.
That's what motivates them - the big, big vision. And also, if you're not a developer, like me, and you're gonna try to bring in a developer, realize that he's way more valuable than you. And so he says how much equity he gets, and you can't be stingy with that. And also, everyone wants to be their own boss. So you have to motivate them with telling them what this is and lay out a plan from niche to vision, putting him inside that plan in a position that's going to motivate him. And that position is to being his own boss. I think that's what motivates a lot of people.
Frank Albert Coates
If you now look forwards on your roadmap, your plans for the next six to 12 months, what's keeping you up at night?
Santiago Cabanas Oyarzun
Well, last night, what was keeping me up was that we are sending the app to Apple and Google and see what they're going to say. Because now with platforms where users can create content, especially in the space of news, politics, COVID and with misinformation and hate speech, there has been a lot of new regulations from Apple and Google to build these types of platforms. So we had to also build some new stuff. So that kept me up at night. And for more long term, definitely just executing the whole plan. We've been building the second version, we have the marketing plan, we have the content creation plan, we have all these different partnerships, and just executing it correctly. And seeing the week over week growth, which is what we're aiming for. And just the actual metrics, because we've definitely been talking to a lot of users - sending them the first versions, seeing exactly how to build it out. But, one thing is to have a conversation. And the other thing is to see how they're actually using it with metrics.
…we've definitely been talking to a lot of users - sending them the first versions, seeing exactly how to build it out. But, one thing is to have a conversation. And the other thing is to see how they're actually using it with metrics.
Frank Albert Coates
You mentioned execution. What's your secret on execution? How do you make sure you and your team builds and moves forward to launch the features you need?
Santiago Cabanas Oyarzun
We use Trello. Trello is a great tool with the Kanban board. We basically need to talk to users on what is the minimal viable product, like what is necessary to build. And then with the cookies and Privacy Policy in the regulations, we have enough. So, really just having conversations on that this feature is not needed even though it sucks that we don't have it. It's not needed and at the same time still being good enough to compete. And so I think that that's basically the Lean Startup method. It's a complicated process. But, you need to be good enough to compete, you need to build a lot of stuff, especially with new regulations. And you need to ship it out quickly to get that feedback. We use Trello. And we talk every day. And we have deadlines that are usually not met with programming - it's usually a couple more weeks than what we hoped for and you can't go crazy over it or lose your head or let it affect you.
